Narwhal: Revealing an Arctic Legend

About this book

Winner of the William Mills Prize for Non-Fiction Polar Books (2018) Few animals on the planet inspire the sense of wonder evoked by the narwhal. The Arctic unicorn is everyones version of awesome and cool. Explorers aristocrats artists and scientists celebrate this elusive whale and its extraordinary tusk. From Flemish unicorn tapestries Inuit legends and traditional knowledge and the research of devoted scientists comes a tale of discovery reported here from the top of the world a place where climate change is rapidly transforming one of the harshest environments on earth. How did the narwhal tusk become the horn of the fabled unicorn? What treasures do the Inuit hold about this majestic but elusive denizen? What have scientists discovered about the function of its tusk? Explore with whale biologists as they capture live narwhals to answer questions of narwhal biology migration population and behavior. Ponder the evolutionary history of the narwhal through paleontology and genetic science. Contemplate the fate of northern regions animals and peoples in a rapidly warming Arctic. Experience the insights and observations of Inuit hunters who have lived with the narwhal for thousands of years. The following pages present their views along with the latest research in narwhal biology art and climate science illustrated by more than a dozen photographers and graphic artists. Table of Contents Preface A World of Questions PART 1: THE NARWHAL WORLD What is a Whale? The Universally Beloved Unicorn PART 2: TOOTH TO TAIL Narwhal Biology: An Overview Listening to Narwhals The Physics of Flukes The Extraordinary Narwhal Tooth Whale in the Net! Making Sense of the Tusk Narwhal DNA Why Sequence Whole Genomes? The Narwhal Genome Initiative: A Progress Report Deep Time: The Narwhal and Beluga Fossil Record Narwhals and Climate PART 3: NARWHAL AND INUIT Qaujimajatuqangit: Inuit Knowledge and Modern Life Nunavut Government Symbol Inuit and Narwhal Inuit contributions to Narwhal Knowledge PART 4: THE NARWHAL FUTURE Climate and the Changing Arctic Narwhals and the Global Mercury Issue As Goes the Arctic... Narwhal: An Uncertain Future The Last Ice Area Arctic Change Resource Extraction and Inuit Communities in Nunavut Drowning the Noise Rethinking Human Development Now is the Time Out of the Arctic Into the Smithsonian: Making the Narwhal Exhibition Contributors Acknowledgments References Index Credits